Residents say entire sections of mostly Sunni enclaves in northeastern Damascus have been bulldozed to the ground by government troops. WSJ's Sam Dagher reports from the Syrian capital.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... this is all that remains some parts of the feed only Sunni enclave in northeastern Damascus ... I ... residency entire sections of the neighborhood in the Syrian capital ... has been Gold Coast to the ground like the troops ... Syrian President Bush era boss is taking extraordinary measures to retain control of Damascus ... the stakes are immense for the regime which is dominated by Shiite linked Ally minority ... holding on to the capital ... the speed of the Assad government and the regime founded by his late father Hafez al Assad means holding on to the state itself ... the government says rescue operations from ... its ... home city ... nothing to do with the nearly two years ... they say it's part of an effort dating back to two thousand and eight ... two with Damascus of illegal slumps ... and other officials say the demolitions which are ... part of the regime ... counter insurgency that in the can ... are necessary to conduct their lives ... so for ... the Assad regime has continued to maintain ... some measure of human life ... span ... I'll ... post about the ancient chopping working in Damascus in some of the deal ... yes ... in ... the counterinsurgency plan is also changing the outbreak of life ... the fault line between Sunni and Shiites ... which he traveled can be stressful ... this family is going through a checkpoint in down two flights to sink in Senate District ... were Sunnis and Shiites used to live side by side ... to get here you must pass through battle scarred no man's land ... once considered market ... the family is Sunni ... it's ages now almost exclusively Shiite enclave ... centered on the line was in ... say this pro government militia members say they're defending their families and the ... Sunni extremist or hold on and surrounding areas ... the malicious part of the so-called popular meetings being formed by the regime ... loyalists enclaves ... throughout the capital ... this is also a key element in the counterinsurgency ... and you know mostly ... Shiite ... says her mother was shot dead in September ... venturing out to get blankets from their abandoned home in a rebel controlled area I ... and then of course all students if they were choosing the Muslims they would not of done that ... its soo nice a whole communities are being routinely destroyed ... and as a result the ... rebels are hitting back with more bombings against government installations in neighborhoods considered pro regime ... for The Wall Street Journal ... this is Sam Dagher and Damascus ...